Former Emory University baseball standout Richard Brereton was named to the Great Britain roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic Thursday night as rosters for all 20 baseball federations were announced by Major League Baseball's communications office. Great Britain is part of Pool C along with USA, Canada, Mexico and Colombia and is slated to begin pool play March 11 in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Brereton was one of 36 players to be selected to represent Great Britain at this year's World Baseball Classic, being tabbed to the team's designated pitcher's pool. Brereton was a member of the national team at the 2019 European Championships where he picked up a win in relief in the team's pool play win over Czech Republic and was the team's starting left fielder for most of the competition. He also represented Great Britain at MLB's inaugural Home Run Derby X in London earlier this summer where he hit a walk-off home run to win the first-ever event.
Brereton was a member of the Eagles from 2017 through 2020, where he helped the team to four winning seasons, two second place finishes in the UAA and a NCAA Regional appearance in 2017. He was a two-time UAA First Team selection, a D3Baseball.com All-South Region Third Team honoree in 2018 and was named the UAA Rookie of the Year.
The two-way star compiled a .349 average across his Emory career, collecting 126 hits including 33 for extra bases and had a .420 on-base percentage and .471 slugging percentage. On the mound, Brereton went 14-6 with one save in 36 appearances, making 22 starts. He posted a 3.13 earned run average with 131 strikeouts in 152.1 innings while holding opponents to a .234 average.
Following his Emory career, he transferred to Duke University where he appeared in 12 games for the Blue Devils in 2021, going 1-0 while allowing 13 runs on 23 hits and 10 walks. He struck out 25 batters in 16.2 innings pitched.
He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chicago Cubs in the summer of 2021 but did not play with the organization.